Observations: A Turn of Events
by ladycordelia17
Summary: This story is about an incident at the Smashers' Mansion, told from many viewpoints, with a different character telling part of it each chapter. Can you guess the identities of all the storytelling Smashers?
1. The Mysterious Fountain

**The Mysterious Fountain**

I had long had my eyes on a misty fountain with a tea-light candleholder on top that I saw in the window of Bed Bath & Beyond shortly after coming to the Smashers' Mansion, but due to the fact that I had to fight in scheduled matches against my fellow Smashers every day for nearly a month, it was a long time before I could actually go to the shops at Stonebrook Square and buy one for my room.

"Wow, how did you find one that looked so perfect on your dresser?" asked my good friend, Princess Peach, delightedly when I showed it to her. She and I love to show off our new purchases to one another whenever one of us goes shopping.

I smiled, as if no-one could ask a more flattering question. "Do you notice the way I have all my things arranged on individual mirrors?" When Peach nodded in answer to my query, I further explained, "I never did figure out a use for that oval mirror with the scalloped edge that Marth gave me for my birthday, given that I keep my collection of perfumes on the mirrored step-display, but the way this fountain is designed, it'll look perfect here." With that, I lit one of the tea lights that came with the fountain and turned it on so that the mist rose forth, some of it floating over the edges. "Did anything exciting happen when I was at the square?" I then asked Peach when she sat down on the foot of my bed.

Peach shook her head disdainfully. "Not really, unless you count a dispute between Roy and Bowser over bathroom time—Bowser was threatening to flame down the door, and Master Hand dragged Bowser away and locked him in his room before things could really get out of hand. Such was the state of things when Mario and I finished a sparring match for coins on the Icicle Mountain stage. He won by at least thirty coins."

A knock on the door—or rather, the doorjamb, as the door to my bedroom was partially opened at the time—startled us both. I turned around to see Popo, one of the Ice Climbers. "May I see the new fountain?" he asked excitedly.

I obliged the child, stepping aside so that Popo could see the flicker of the tea light in my dresser mirror and the swirling mist in the shallow fountain basin. "That's awesome—hey, Nana, come look at this!" he called out to his twin sister.

The other Ice Climber appeared within seconds, lingering at the doorway for a moment before I smiled and beckoned her in. She oohed and aahed over the fountain just like her brother; I guessed that it must be a family trait.

But stepping forward to gain a closer view, Nana bumped my dresser by accident and in doing so, she knocked one of my perfume bottles into the fountain. "Oops—sorry!" she exclaimed hastily, reaching forward to take the fragrance (Lucky You) out of the water. I retrieved it first, removing the cap to blot the inside with a tissue before replacing the bottle on my display.

And do you know something? I guess I should be thanking Nana for that happy little accident, if my beating Ganondorf in a match for coins had anything to do with her knocking the bottle into the fountain water when it must have had barely a drop on the sprayer valve and in the cap.


	2. Boulevard of Broken Dreams

**Boulevard of Broken Dreams**

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day.

I heard that song on the radio one night, about an hour before midnight, when I had all but finished watching _Star Wars: The Phantom Menace_; I left off just after the lightsaber battle.

My bedroom is on the first floor of the Smashers' Mansion, not too far from the front entry doors—and out there, at the front gate, was where I saw a boy of ten sitting on the front walkway by the gate. He sat curled up in something resembling the fetal position, his back to the entry doors and his face buried in his knees.

Without even bothering to put my helmet back on, I dashed from my room to the second floor—sure as hell looked like it was Ness who was out of bed at this time of night, but why, I asked myself as I pushed Ness's cracked-open door to see that, sure enough, the bed in that room was empty.

"Ness?" I called his name as I stepped outside. He looked behind him and then stood up and turned around; in the street lights I could see that his face was stained with tears. Something was clearly wrong. "It's past eleven now, Ness, what are you doing out here so late?" I questioned.

Ness glanced up at me blankly and bit his lip. "Please don't ask, I'm already in more trouble than I can take…" he begged at length, staring down at his worn red sneakers.

Seeing that Ness was obviously on the verge of more tears, I strove to prevent them: "You'll be in even more trouble if a Fighting Wire Frame informs Master Hand that you're out of bed. Come into my room and we can talk," I told him.

Ness obediently followed me, head hung, quiet but shaking. When we reached my room, I motioned for Ness to sit down in the computer chair at my desk as I shut the door. Taking a seat on the edge of my bed, I asked the boy as gently as I could, "What happened that's upsetting you this much?"

After much hesitation, Ness finally answered: "Master Hand's blaming me for what happened to Zelda today, when she got hit on the head and had to go to the hospital."

I swallowed. The first thing that Fox McCloud, the humanoid fox who commanded Team Starfox, reported to me when I returned from picking up some spare parts for my ship was that Princess Zelda of Hyrule had been rushed to the hospital with a concussion resulting from a trophy—the Giga Bowser trophy that Mario of the Mushroom Kingdom won from clearing Adventure Mode on the Hard level, to be exact—falling from a shelf in the living room and striking her sharply on one side of her head. Ness must have been detained in Master Hand's office at the time.

"But I swear it wasn't my fault!" Ness protested. "While I was playing Connect Four with YoungLink and Popo and Nana in turns upstairs in Popo and Nana's room, someone must've stolen my baseball and thrown it at the trophy to knock it down and hit Zelda on the head—that must be why Master Hand blamed me—and now I'm in for a beating by the Cruel Melee wire-frames and I'll have to go through Adventure Mode on Hard to get another Giga Bowser trophy…and Mario won't listen, he thinks it's my fault his trophy's broken…" Ness grew more and more agitated as he explained the whole ordeal to me, as if he was certain that I, like Master Hand, didn't believe his side of the story.

"Don't worry, Ness, I don't think you're to blame," I told the boy, stilling his trembling by briefly putting a hand on his shoulder. "Besides, you have YoungLink and the Ice Climbers as witnesses to testify that when all this happened, you were upstairs with them and couldn't possibly have thrown your baseball around in the living room at the time that Zelda was hurt."

"It won't work, Master Hand won't listen to me," said Ness in a tone of despair, "he already told me there's nothing I can do to change his mind, and the next Multi-Man Melee day is only three days away—and, of course, I'll have to go through Adventure Mode immediately afterward…"

I rose from my seated position on my bed, and Ness looked up at me with startled eyes before standing up. "I'll speak to Master Hand tomorrow and hopefully clear your name so at the very least you don't get the imminent beating," I told him. "Now I really think you need a good night's sleep."

And a good thing that I stayed with Ness and saw him to his bedroom safely, too, I thought, because at precisely the moment that he was up the staircase to the second floor, a male Wire Frame called out to us, "And what's _this_ little troublemaker doing out of bed?"

"Receiving a lecture on the dangers of leaving board games lying around," I lied in the cold tone of voice that I frequently use when dealing with intergalactic scum. The Wire Frame studied us both for several seconds before conceding and letting us pass.

I silently cursed Master Hand as I said good-night to Ness and returned to my own room. Scare a child half to death, why didn't he? But I wasn't going to let Ness be blamed for what happened and idly let him take the fall. An unfair punishment wouldn't be his "boulevard of broken dreams."


	3. Premonition

**Premonition**

When I awoke it was nine o'clock in the morning, only a little later than I usually get up, but enough to make a breakfast without incident unlikely, as everyone else was already awake.

The "incident" this time came in the form of my younger brother getting into a dispute with Starfox ace-pilot Falco Lombardi. "Try not to wake everyone up at the crack of dawn next time you return from a mission," he told the humanoid falcon grumpily. "I never seem to get enough sleep as is."

"Well, the fact that you're too light a sleeper isn't my fault," jeered Falco, "and I'd like to see _you_ try to land an Arwing in that hangar without making any noise. Even where any of us space-farers come from, no one's yet invented a spaceship that can take off and land in complete silence; it's impossible given atmospheric resistance and a large number of other factors—so you can quit your bellyaching unless you want a real good reason to complain."

My brother swore and made a rude hand gesture at Falco—just in time to be caught in the act by Master Hand. "Have you forgotten that there are children present here, you uncouth fool?" the hand demanded to know. "Or would you and Mr. Lombardi like to settle your dispute by being the first to fight today on the Brinstar Depths stage?" I reckoned that Master Hand's threat of that topsy-turvy stage would shut at least one of them up; nobody liked fighting there with the monster Kraid rotating the stage at random intervals. (Except maybe bounty hunter Samus Aran; she had the home-field advantage.)

"Anything to put this ungrateful upstart in his place," answered Falco with a kind of vindictive pleasure as he shot a contemptuous look at me before returning his angry stare to my brother. As to Master Hand's prompting about the presence of children that made vulgarities particularly verboten, I was actually on my brother's side—I could care less about it, especially after Ness broke my favorite trophy by throwing his baseball around the living room yesterday. On the bright side, the brat would be forced to go through Adventure Mode and replace the trophy soon.

As soon as I finished eating an omelet and drinking a mug of coffee for breakfast, I went in search of Princess Peach. I suspected she might have returned to sleep after Falco Lombardi's wake-everyone-else-up landing, but to my surprise, she wasn't in her pink-decorated room. She wasn't arguing with anybody, playing games, sparring, or even anywhere inside the mansion to slap the next person who cursed in her presence—which had been Princess Zelda's job until late yesterday afternoon. The same erroneously thrown baseball that shattered my Giga Bowser trophy first knocked it off the living room shelf and onto Princess Zelda's head, giving her a concussion that sent her to the local hospital.

Princess Peach, meanwhile, was in the parking garage where denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom keep their racing Karts—when I found her she was busy attaching a large cargo basket to the back of the Heart Coach, her double-dash Kart. She must have intended to go shopping shortly, as evidenced by the fact that she had abandoned her usual puffy pink dress and was wearing instead a new pair of silver-gray athletic pants and a pale-blue V-neck shirt with long sleeves and a rhinestone butterfly on the front. "Are you planning to be gone long today, Peach?" I asked.

"Not all day, I don't think—I'll be back at three-thirty, if not sooner," she answered blithely, "among other things, I want to get Zelda a few provisions and a get-well gift before I go to visit her in the hospital."

"Go on and enjoy yourself, then, and send everyone's best wishes to Princess Zelda," I told her with a smile before she was on her way. My general feeling of contentment at watching Peach be cheerful, though, didn't last long as the puffy clouds scattered throughout the sky gave way to looming gray clouds within the next two hours or so.


	4. Shatterglass

**Shatterglass**

I was feeling terrible that morning; the pain in my belly from last night (I think the tuna-salad sandwich I ate caused it) gave way to a bad fit of queasiness that didn't end when I finally puked at around seven in the morning, just before I heard the loud rumbling in the space travelers' hangar outside that meant Falco Lombardi landed his Arwing. I tried returning to my room and falling asleep again when everything got quiet, but I wound up throwing up again two hours later. Dr. Mario had told me to drink only water for a while and try to get more sleep today, but I couldn't sleep, my stomach hurt too badly. Feeling so awful, I longed for Princess Zelda to come in and comfort me, but she wasn't here, she got sent to the hospital with a bump to the head that knocked her out.

"No, you two shouldn't go in," I heard Dr. Mario say outside my room. "Whatever made him throw up could be contagious, so you have to wait until he's better."

The "doctor in the house" had to be talking to the Ice Climbers; I heard Popo's "aww" of protest and Nana saying, "But he's our friend! We need to see him!" Hearing Dr. Mario keep Popo and Nana away made me feel worse. I really wanted to see my friends; if it was just something that I ate that made me sick, I really didn't think anybody else could catch it.

But Dr. Mario did let Link into my room, which I figured was good enough. "I'm really sorry you're sick today," he told me with a sad look on his face. "First Zelda, then you—I kind of wonder if something's acting against Hylians."

"Maybe," I answered. "I hope you're not next."

Link didn't get to say anything else because as soon as he opened his mouth we both heard a noise that sounded like breaking glass coming from downstairs. The sympathetic look on Link's face turned into a worried one, and he quickly said, "I'd better go see what that was—I'll be back in a few minutes," before squeezing my hand and leaving my room.

But Link didn't return in a few minutes; what was taking so long, I wondered. Meanwhile, all I could do was hope everything downstairs was all right.


	5. There's a Storm Brewing

**There's a Storm Brewing**

Without even a word to Marth of Altea, with whom I had been discussing prospective participation in Multi-Man Melee events, I immediately drew my blaster and ran in the direction of the breaking-glass noise when I heard it. The sound had come from Princess Zelda's room—but whoever made the noise had gotten away. There was, however, evidence that the perpetrator was definitely trying to cause trouble: a bottle of cologne (Davidoff Cool Water) with its neck broken off on Zelda's dresser next to her new misting fountain—the top piece of the bottle was lying on the floor—and the distinctive masculine scent of the cologne emanating from the fountain.

"Davidoff Cool Water…but that's Roy's…" I heard Marth say as he entered the room with his sword unsheathed, picking up the bottom piece of the broken bottle.

I would have told Marth to leave the bottle alone, so as not to further disturb the evidence pending Master Hand's investigation, but there was no need: Master Hand was at the entrance to Zelda's room within seconds, flanked by two Fighting Wire Frames. "Perpetrator's gone, disappeared before we could catch him," I told the hand, regretting that I couldn't have given the perpetrator, whoever he was, a swift kick in the backside.

"Perpetrator?" Master Hand questioned. "Do you mean that someone's up to no good here?"

"Someone smashed open a bottle of cologne on the edge of Zelda's dresser and poured its contents into her new fountain," answered Marth in explanation. "It was Davidoff Cool Water—I think whoever did this stole it from Roy."

I was about to ask why somebody would do this, but Master Hand ordered Marth and me to follow him to his office. When we got there, he and the Wire Frames began to question us. Both of us answered that we were talking about future fight prospects in the living room when we heard the sound of shattered glass—naturally, that drew us in the direction of the noise, and that's how we came to see what happened. "Besides, why—I don't get it, why would someone want to add a whole bottle of fragrance—a men's fragrance, no less—to the fountain? Unless…" I would've said "unless the fountain is magical and adding perfume or cologne to the water was supposed to achieve some kind of effect that the perpetrator wanted," but it was an awfully far-fetched theory.

Marth, however, was thinking exactly what I was, and volunteered the theory that I thought was too far-fetched for suggesting. "I see," was Master Hand's response, and for several long seconds I couldn't tell if Master Hand thought it likely or not.

Just then there was a knock on the door of the office. A Wire Frame opened the door to reveal Samus Aran in the hallway, clutching her helmet in her free hand. "Just saw an emergency weather report—there's a flood warning in effect from now until late tomorrow night," Samus reported, apparently feeling the necessity to tell everyone.

"A flood warning?" I repeated in astonishment. "Until late _tomorrow_ night?"

"Pardon me for saying so, Master Hand, but I think you'd better call Roy to ask him how much cologne was in that bottle," suggested Marth uncertainly. I knew what he was thinking: if the perpetrator of this incident hoped to create a torrential downpour of rain by adding Davidoff Cool Water to the fountain, he had gotten his wish, depending on how full the bottle was. In that case, the bottle must have been nearly full, if the flood warning in effect now would remain so for such a long time.

Master Hand then told me to go downstairs and summon Roy of Phaerae to his office. Obeying the order, however, I barely needed to reach the staircase leading down to the first floor when I came upon an argument raging in the foyer.

"Peach'll be fine," asserted Mario. "She's driven a Kart through rain before—we all have." Mario must have been talking about everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom when he said this.

"But you heard that report—the flood warning will still be in effect," Ness pointed out. "What if Princess Peach gets into an accident on the wet road? I know she wanted to see Princess Zelda in the hospital, but she'll want to do it the easy way, not when she's hurt, too."

"Or what if she knows it's too dangerous and would prefer to stay at the mall or wherever…" my longtime sidekick and the best pilot on my space-faring team back home began, but he was interrupted.

Mario was quick to point out, "She's smart, she'll know to stay where she is until it's not raining so hard."

"Which just won't happen if those forecasters are telling the truth," I heard Captain Falcon say even though I couldn't see him until he entered from the hallway leading down to his room and those of the other space travelers, including myself.

"You stay out, Falcon, this isn't your concern," Mario snapped.

"Any of you seen Roy? Master Hand wants a word with him," I asked.

Roy, who was in the living room, called out a short "here I am," and as he walked up the stairs past me, I retreated up with him but could still hear the argument: "When one of my fellow Smashers is hurt and another wrongly blamed it becomes my concern," Falcon shot back at Mario. "I don't want another Smasher to get hurt."

"If Peach can give Bowser a beating in a match, then she can certainly handle herself in a storm," Mario maintained, "there's no need for anyone to get worked up, especially you."

"Maybe _you_ need to let go of your jealousies and learn when to sit back and let someone else do the work," was the last thing that I heard Captain Falcon say before I heard the front door open and shut. It was only two minutes later that I heard the whirring of engines indicating that the Falcon Flyer was leaving the space travelers' hangar.

So Master Hand had been blaming Ness for the accident that happened to Princess Zelda and for breaking Mario's Giga Bowser trophy, Captain Falcon seemed to think that Ness was innocent (and might, in addition to bringing Princess Peach back to the mansion safely, also be on his way to interrogate Zelda in order to support or refute Ness's defense), and someone used the fountain in Zelda's room to create a storm by adding Roy's cologne to the water—and Peach, who had gone shopping and intended to visit Zelda and offer condolence, was in potential danger from the storm. I really didn't think Ness was to blame either, but I suppose I had to wait on Captain Falcon for confirmation.


	6. Embroiled in the Conflict

**Embroiled in the Conflict**

Thank the stars I had brought along a couple of sheets of plastic to cover the seat of the Heart Coach and my mall purchases when I went shopping today! I had barely reentered Strawbridge's after loading my purchases from there, Victoria's Secret, and Formalities and covering them against impending rain when it started.

After a stop at Bath & Body Works to get a bath bubbles/shower gel/body lotion gift set for Princess Zelda (who at present was hospitalized with a concussion), I went to Macy's for a complete change of clothes that I thought she would like. And the scented tea-light candles, among others, at Yankee Candles—certainly she would appreciate some of those for use with her new fountain: it had a tea light holder on top, and Zelda had told me that she thought the fountain magical, capable of producing different effects through the use of scented candles or perfumes added to the water. Why not give her more to experiment with on that score, then?

The rain was still in the downpour stage, so I thought it best to linger in the mall at least until it slowed down. Besides which, I had another sick fellow Smasher to find a get-well gift for: YoungLink, taken ill with an upset stomach this morning and confined to bed under Dr. Mario's advice. I found just the right thing for him at K-B Toys: a glow-in-the-dark drawing board with an LED pen for drawing.

I had eaten a hearty breakfast this morning, so I wasn't feeling hungry when I got out of Sephora twenty minutes later, but I was starting to get a headache, possibly due to lack of caffeine (I drink coffee most mornings, but the coffeemaker in the Smashers' Mansion kitchen was broken today—we all had Crazy Hand to thank for that). So I stopped at Starbucks Coffee for refreshment in the form of hazelnut coffee, to finally sit down and relax for a while before I challenged any arcade-goers to a round of Dance Dance Revolution. (I was practically the best player of that game in the Smashers' Mansion; there were only a few others who could beat me with certain songs.)

That was when fate decided to throw another wrench into my plans.

"I thought I might find you in a Starbucks," called out a male voice that I didn't really like to hear, and especially not when I was anywhere but the mansion. I turned in my seat—and, sure enough, I saw the F-Zero pilot Captain Falcon enter Starbucks and approach me. He looked like he had taken some rain on his racing suit.

I looked up at the ceiling in immense dismay. What in the universe had made Falcon come after me at a time like this? Did he really think me incapable of making my way back to the Smashers' Mansion by myself given the rainstorm—it made my blood boil when anyone, especially the space travelers, grossly underestimated me like that—or was he here on Master Hand's orders? "Falcon, what in the world made you come after me?" I finally asked.

I could almost see Captain Falcon rolling his eyes irritably under that visor of his. "I know you intended to visit Princess Zelda in the hospital when you were done shopping," he began, "and you were obviously prepared to go alone, but something's happened and I need to ask her some questions…"

"So you insist on accompanying me?"

"Exactly. Just follow me—I'll explain in further detail when we're aboard my ship," Falcon ordered. I reluctantly gathered my purchases and followed him across the mall and back to Strawbridge's, outside of which I had parked my Kart. He sent a signal to the Falcon Flyer circling above the mall on autopilot to tractor us and the Kart aboard before ordering me to sit up in the cockpit with him, presumably so that he could explain the ordeal that made him pursue me.

"You mentioned that you needed to ask Zelda some questions," I began before Falcon could, "may I inquire as to the purpose of your interrogation?"

Falcon nodded. "Mario told you this already, I'm sure, but yesterday when Zelda was hurt, Ness's baseball was found near where the Giga Bowser trophy lay broken," he explained—

"And you're blaming Ness for it?" I burst out in disbelief. I found it difficult to believe that the psychic boy Ness would hurt anyone outside of sparring matches—and until now I had thought Captain Falcon sensible enough not to blame the boy either, unless Ness had simply been careless and knocked the trophy over by accident.

"No, I'm not," answered Falcon with a note of irritation in his voice. "You took a bubble bath and went to bed too early last night to know of this, but it was past eleven last night when I looked out my window and saw Ness outside, and he had clearly been crying for some time. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that he had been upstairs with the other kids when Zelda was hurt, and that somebody apparently stole his baseball to make it look like he was at fault."

I nodded in understanding as I replied: "I see. You need Zelda's version of the story in order to defend Ness to Master Hand." That was one good thing about Captain Falcon—he may seem at first like a man with a heart of stone, but he cared at least enough to help those who needed it. Only I wasn't exactly sure _I_ needed help getting back to the Smashers' Mansion safely.

As if he knew what I had just been thinking, Falcon continued, "The flood warning in effect now is supposed to remain so for nearly another thirty-six hours, Princess Peach; when you were done shopping you would've had to either brave the storm—which would've been a lot more dangerous—or call for back-up. And I'd have gone after you even if you didn't call for help—I make a point of not tolerating high-mindedness, not even from royalty."

The jibe about me being high-minded wasn't what bothered me—it was the duration of the flood warning. "A flood warning for thirty-six hours!" I exclaimed in shock. "What in the universe could…?"

"Glad you asked, because Zelda's injury isn't the only thing suspicious that's happened lately," Falcon replied. "Fox managed to tell me this along the way—he and Marth have both gotten the idea that the fountain in Zelda's room is magical, capable of producing different effects with the addition of perfumes or colognes. But they're not the only ones who seem to think so: someone stole Roy's bottle of Davidoff Cool Water and smashed the top off in order to add the entire contents to the fountain."

"So you think that whoever did that wanted to create a storm that would make it difficult to get around—and the perpetrator might have been the same person who stole Ness's baseball and used it to knock Zelda senseless?" I reasoned.

Falcon nodded grimly and continued as we reached the local hospital and made our way to the ward where Zelda was kept: "Yes. In both cases the perpetrator is trying to get someone else blamed for what happens, and now Ness isn't the only one likely to be unfairly punished—Roy may also be in for a beating that he doesn't deserve."

I entered Zelda's room first. She might have looked forlorn in the pale green hospital gown she was wearing and with her golden hair disheveled, but her face brightened considerably when she saw me. "It's so good to see you, Peach, seeing as how the doctors won't let me leave until tomorrow, I was wondering when someone from the mansion would come to visit me," remarked Zelda with a kind of tired smile. She took in my appearance of being dressed in my mall-going clothes and carrying the few bags of things for her, then glanced to the window dripping with rain. "But you aren't dripping wet from the rain?"

Before I could answer, Captain Falcon took the words right out of my mouth, more or less: "I insisted on taking her here myself, Princess Zelda—because I need to ask _you_ some questions."

A chagrined look crossed Zelda's face. "Questions about what—like who knocked the Giga Bowser trophy over onto my head? Well, I didn't see his face, but the hand that threw a baseball at me looked like it belonged to Ganondorf. Then I was out of it; I didn't even hear the sound of the trophy breaking." Zelda put a hand to the still-swollen bump on her forehead as pain mingled with confusion began to contort her countenance. I reached for the cold compress near her bedside and offered it to her, which she accepted gratefully.

"I see," Falcon replied. "And what can you tell me about the misting fountain in your room, with the candleholder on the top?" he continued to interrogate.

Zelda's eyes widened in alarm. "The fountain?" she repeated. "It's just—well, I had the idea that after Nana knocked my bottle of Lucky You into the fountain and got a drop of it in the water, and I beat Ganondorf on the Icicle Mountain stage—that the fountain might have magical properties…but it was only a theory, and the only person I definitely told was Peach…" She trailed off, wincing in pain again.

"Captain Falcon told me on the way here that Marth and Fox had gotten that idea too—after someone smashed Roy's bottle of Davidoff Cool Water on the edge of your dresser in order to add the contents to the fountain," I offered in explanation, "whoever did that must have wanted to create this rainstorm we're having—and Falcon thinks the perpetrator was the same person who tried to get Ness in trouble by throwing Ness's baseball to knock the trophy down."

"What in the world is Master Hand playing at, blaming Ness?" Zelda demanded to know. "I know Mario must've been angry about the broken trophy, but even _if_ Ness broke it, it would've had to be an accident. And I really hope Master hand doesn't go further out of his senses and try to blame Roy because it was his cologne that Ganondorf, or whoever the perpetrator is, added to the fountain."

"So Ness is definitely innocent?" prompted Falcon.

"_Yes_," answered Zelda fervently, nodding her head. "The last that I heard of Ness before I was hurt was that he was playing games with the rest of the children."

Falcon fiddled with something on his belt as he replied, "Good. Thank you for your help, Princess Zelda." Then he acknowledged to me as we left the hospital, "And now that you're safe, Princess Peach, all I need to do is present my evidence to Master Hand in order to clear Ness's name."

I had to be pleased to hear of good prospects that Ness would be alleviated of his fears of unfair retribution, even if I couldn't do much about YoungLink's illness other than cheer him up with a small get-well gift. All I had to do that fate would not decide to give Popo and Nana undue grief, or any more fellow Smashers, for that matter.


	7. Jealousies and Fabrications

**Jealousies and Fabrications**

"How's the little one doing?" I asked Princess Peach as soon as she stepped out of YoungLink's room. The poor boy had gotten sick to his stomach last night and thrown up twice this morning. He told me that he blamed it on a bad tuna-salad sandwich, but Dr. Mario suspected that a stomach virus was to blame, as YoungLink had also been running a rather high fever and experienced some chills.

Peach shook her head sadly. "His fever isn't as high as it was before I went out, but he's still tossing and turning and can't get comfortable. I tried distracting him from the pain with the new drawing board that I bought him—I hope that works until he can keep more than water down and can try sports drinks or crackers," she explained. "But Zelda's doing better. She'll most likely be released from the hospital tomorrow morning; Master Hand just won't let her do any fighting for a while."

I was glad to hear that Princess Zelda was on the mend from her concussion, even if YoungLink wasn't feeling much better than he was this morning. But there were still plenty of things to bother me: the case of someone creating a storm by adding cologne to the fountain in Zelda's room and the fact that the perpetrator hadn't been caught yet. Not to mention Mario's bad mood resulting from his trophy being broken—probably causing his quickness to lash out at Captain Falcon not only for believing Ness's side of the broken-trophy-and-Zelda's-injury story, but for flying out after Peach to safeguard her against rainstorm road hazards, which Mario didn't see as too dangerous for his beloved to brave.

Peach must have seen my bothered expression, though, because a half-incredulous, half-suspicious look crossed her heart-shaped face. "You're not blaming Ness for what happened to Zelda, are you?" she asked. "Because Zelda did say that Ness is definitely innocent on that score."

"It's okay, I believe you," I answered almost defensively. "And I agree with you there—I suppose Mario's only acting the way he is because he's angry about his trophy." I would be angry, too, if someone broke a trophy that I had worked hard for. But I didn't get to talk to Peach much longer, because Mario chose that moment to call Peach downstairs.

Samus Aran joined me instead. "Been talking to Peach, have you? I imagine she wasn't pleased to be interrupted in the middle of her shopping trip," she remarked in a voice of growing annoyance. "But maybe it was for the best, what with the length of that flood warning and Peach too bloody proud to call for help unless it's Mario's help she needs—and Mario, too! Would he really suffer Peach to remain un-rescued if another man had to do the rescuing?"

I harrumphed. "Mario's just grumpy because someone broke his trophy, and I reckon Captain Falcon's _bored_ half to death—needs the detective work of clearing Ness's name to amuse him, and chasing Peach down at the mall kind of helped." For that matter, I imagined that Samus was probably going mad with inactivity as well; she hadn't gotten any special assignments to call her away from the Smashers' Mansion since we all came here as far as I knew.

And Samus was right about Mario being inordinately jealous and possessive of Peach—_would_ he suffer Peach not to be rescued from some danger if another man would be the one to rescue her? If Zelda was the one imperiled it wouldn't much matter to me depending on the danger—just as long as she was safe.

Mario, however, seemed satisfied to hear of Peach's "reaction of indignant exasperation" upon Captain Falcon's cornering her in Starbucks Coffee—just long enough not to hit Falcon for calling Peach high-minded (probably for the second or third time since the meeting in Starbucks).

"Leave off it, Mario, I'm quite accustomed to both those bounty hunters calling me 'proud' or 'high-minded' at every turn," said Peach disdainfully from downstairs. She must have thought that it should placate Mario to see her make no bones about believing all bounty hunters to be hard-hearted and disliking the Smashers of that occupation, particularly Falcon, for it.

"Do you think any of this argument would have been avoided if _you_, rather than Falcon, were the one to bring Peach back to safety and try to defend Ness to Master Hand?" I asked Samus, who was still standing nearby. I considered that since Samus was female, Mario wouldn't have such a problem with Samus bringing Peach back to the Smashers' Mansion through the storm now raging outside—even if he was still hell-bent on being angry with Ness and anyone who defended the boy.

"Maybe," answered Samus sardonically, "but he'd still be bent against me for believing Ness's side of the story. Master Hand seems to accept that Roy, at least, is innocent of the adding-cologne-to-the-fountain accusation, though." That was good news—I myself knew that Roy had been watching _Conan the Barbarian_ in the living room when everyone heard the sound of breaking glass.

And at this rate, the fewer Smashers got involved in this turn of events, the better.

_A/N: A point for debate after you guess this storyteller's identity--Do you agree or disagree with those Smashers who think that Mario's being inordinately jealous and that Peach, too, should swallow her pride (given what's happened)?_


	8. Trying to Tame the Tension

**Trying to Tame the Tension**

_That was close_, I thought indignantly as that mustached man in overalls and a red hat nearly stomped on my tail. "Hey, watch it!" I yelled at him, even though I knew he couldn't understand what I was saying. Bad move. The tall man in blue nearby took no notice of me, but the mustached man made a move to kick me aside. I jumped out of the way just in time, and the mustached man grumbled something unintelligible that earned him an elbow to the side from a pretty lady in gray pants and a sparkly light-blue shirt who stood beside him. (It must have been Peach; the other lady—Zelda, the one with the pointy ears—was still away.)

"Sorry about him," apologized the pretty lady as she bent down to pat my head. All I had to do was bend my legs like I was going to jump before she reached out and made a space for me in her arms. She straightened up with me in her arms and carried me to the kitchen, away from whatever argument had been going on.

Already in the kitchen there was a sad-looking boy in shorts and a striped T-shirt who sat at a small table and drank milk—it had to be Ness. "It's not fair," Ness complained. I didn't catch much of what was unfair that he was complaining about, but I did hear at the end, "I'm just so _bored_, I can't think of anything to do."

But I had an idea for cheering him up—I hastily gobbled down a peppermint sweet that I found on one corner of the table, and then I gave Ness a jolt, jumped down, and ran away. I couldn't tell if Ness's shout of "Come back here, you!" was in amusement or anger, but I figured that a round of tag-you're-it would cheer him up.

I led Ness in a chase that went through the dining and living rooms, hiding under chairs and end tables whenever the boy would snatch at me and thoroughly enjoying circling the legs and feet of other Smashers, forcing Ness to find a new way of catching me every time. When I found the main hallway (after nearly getting stepped-on again, this time by a man in green with funny-looking ears) and made a break for the first open door to a room, I nudged the desk-chair closer toward the desk within and lost no time in hiding under the desk. There I waited. But Ness didn't follow me into the room, apparently.

Did he give up trying to catch me?

Maybe so, because everything had gone quiet except for the soft hum of some electronic device, probably a computer, on top of the desk I hid under. I looked away at the wall for a moment and was surprised to see a rather large strawberry set down on the floor some distance away from the desk.

I stuck my head out and looked around. No sign of Ness. So I took my chances and made a dash for the strawberry—only to have Ness gather me up in his arms the moment I had the fruit in my tiny paws.

"Caught 'cha like a ball," the boy laughed, tickling me until I almost dropped the strawberry as I, too, had been laughing so hard. When I finally got control of myself again, I saw that Ness was carrying me back to the dining room where Peach had been fixing up a large platter of sliced apples and a variety of things to dip them in, like honey and peanut butter. Ness and I feasted heartily on apples, as did a great crowd of others.

What a nice way to end a game of tag-you're-it, by eating delicious fruit—and it had certainly cheered Ness up a lot!


	9. Redemption

**Redemption**

"What, you aren't hungry like so many of us?" asked Nana, one of the Ice Climbers, when I didn't eat as many of the apples as either she or her brother, Popo, ate after I'd chased Pikachu around the Smashers' Mansion. I didn't know how to explain to either of the Ice Climbers what was bothering me. I loved apples as much as the next person, especially dipped in peanut butter, but I had things that were more pressing on my mind.

In truth, Master Hand was blaming me for something I didn't do, and I would be in for a really bad beating by the Cruel Melee wire-frames two days from now (and I'd have to go through Adventure Mode on the Hard level after that) if nobody cleared my name for me. Somehow I didn't think anyone smart enough would actually _blame_ me, but there was no reasoning with Master Hand; so far Captain Falcon was the only person bold enough to actually let fellow Smashers know he believed my side of the story. Maybe that was why hearing the chorus of the Green Day song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" on the radio reassured me in spite of the fact that the words are about walking alone at night, a scary prospect indeed. (Before now, the last time I heard that song was last night, when Falcon asked me what made me upset.)

"_Just drop it!_ Peach certainly wouldn't lie about what Zelda said on the matter, and if anyone should be in a bad mood over what's happening today, she'd be the one complaining—and so far she's been ignoring the jibes," I heard Fox McCloud argue. I could only guess at who he was talking to, probably Mario, who was on Master Hand's side as far as "whether I'm to blame" went.

Fed up with hearing Mario refuse to listen to reason, I made my way upstairs, to just outside Master Hand's office—only to hear more loud arguing. "I see," sounded the voice of Master Hand from behind the closed door. "And had you considered that Princess Zelda's memory might be flawed, considering the nature of her head injury?"

"Yes, I had, but it's the only lead we've got as to who the perpetrator is," Captain Falcon answered, "and right now I do concede that 'who-done-it' is still under investigation. What matters to me, however, is that right now you're clearly blaming the wrong person. Zelda did say, in that conversation, that the boy was innocent, that he'd been playing games with the other kids at the time of this incident—which corroborates his claim last night when _I_ questioned him…"

I forced myself to walk away to my own room. The last thing I needed was to have a Fighting Wire Frame catch me eavesdropping on the goings-on in Master Hand's office. So I picked up my Game Boy Color to play Tetris in the hope of distracting myself from all my worries; puzzle games usually worked that way. And I had been successful, achieving five "Tetris" line combinations in a row—until a female Wire Frame banged open my cracked-open door by way of knocking.

"Come with me," she ordered. "Master Hand wants a word."

Not willing to get in further trouble for "defiance" by resisting Master Hand's demands, I quit my Tetris game and followed the Wire Frame a short way down the hall to Master Hand's office. The giant white-gloved hand was waiting for me behind a desk that apparently was a huge console of giant-hand-sized computer equipment. Captain Falcon stood between the desk and the nearest chair, moving aside only to accommodate me when Master Hand ordered me to sit down.

"So…when I questioned you yesterday evening regarding the incident involving Princess Zelda's concussion and the breakage of Mario's Giga Bowser trophy, you told me that you had nothing to do with the incident," Master Hand began.

"And that's true! I was upstairs at the time—just ask Popo and Nana if you don't believe me," I answered, getting worked up again.

The giant hand at the desk remained motionless for a long moment, but finally he continued, "And Captain Falcon here has a recording of conversation from his visit to Princess Zelda in her hospital room—whose testimony indicates that you were not involved. So, after weighing the evidence, I've changed my mind about you facing the Fighting Wire Frames and going through Adventure Mode—you won't get either the beating or the task of replacing the trophy."

Boy, was I relieved to hear that! I smiled my relief to Captain Falcon, and I could see the pleased sparkle in his eyes even through the visor he insisted on wearing.

I returned to the dining room when Master Hand dismissed me and ate the few apple slices that remained (I was surprised that Pikachu hadn't eaten them already) with a considerably lighter heart than shortly before. I guess all that needed to be done was for the real perpetrator of the incident to be caught.


End file.
